Lando Norris has identified some key areas that Formula 1 must improve “for the good of the sport”.
Norris has been one of the most vocal drivers in his criticisms of the new generation of F1 regulations, stating previously: "We've come from the best cars ever made in Formula 1 and the nicest to drive to probably the worst. It sucks, but you have to live with it.”
With three race weekends under his belt and more experience of the pros and cons of the new machinery, Norris has tempered his feelings slightly.
“I’ll re-emphasise my point about these cars – they’re fun to drive, and some of these challenges can be solved with software changes,” Norris said following a Pirelli tyre test at the Nürburgring.
“Once we get that balance right, I think we have a very exciting regulation set. Starts, energy management, harvesting, lift and coast, are all topics of discussion and areas where I’m hoping we can bring improvements for the good of the sport.”
Prior to the current season, drivers and fans had longed for smaller, lighter cars, which ran on skinnier tyres. This could come from rose-tinted glasses of the early 2000s era, where howling V10s and V8s demanded attention as they flew past in the nimblest of chassis.
With these criteria met – aside from the screaming engines of the past – Norris conceded the cars “are really exciting to drive”.
“You really need a different approach when it comes to driving style,” he explained. “You can push these cars, find the edge and still recover, whereas last year, it was very hard to recover the car when you pass the edge of grip.
“This is one of the real positives of these regulations. In this sense, the skill of the driver, the ability to hold on through a corner and get the best exit right on the edge, is what becomes the difference in performance.”
But his criticism of the power unit remains.
Norris added: “However, this is at odds with what we need to do on the power unit, because going flat out in one corner might mean you get through that sector quicker, but by the time you get to the next straight, you lose time because you have no battery, as it’s been deploying through the corners, and that is a shame.
“Qualifying is very different to in previous years. In the past, the driver who could extract the most grip from the car, get on throttle earliest and accelerate out of the corner quickest could usually unlock more lap time and would be rewarded for it. Now, you have to be much more careful about when you get the battery to deploy, not using too much in the corner, as it could cost you further on in the lap.”